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"U.S. student performance on international exams has fallen compared to other industrial nations in recent years, a fact policymakers and others often cite in arguing that U.S. public schools need rapid reform in order to maintain their global competitiveness.But now two organizations are out with a new study that challenges that narrative by comparing the United States to eight other nations on a raft of socioeconomic measures. The upshot of the report is that the single-minded focus on test scores has led policymakers to overlook other important trends that affect U.S. public education, including high levels of economic inequality and social stress. Schools can't be expected to solve these larger problems on their own, argue the study's authors, the Horace Mann League and the National Superintendents Roundtable."

"New Mexico continues to rank near the bottom in child poverty and the state has been slow to recover economically and stop the dwindling of resources, a new report said. The New Mexico Voices for Children on Tuesday released its annual New Mexico Kids Count report, which also faulted state lawmakers for not presenting any new anti-poverty initiatives to help one of the poorest states."

"The Washington Post and the New York Times picked up a Southern Education Foundation report about the increasing levels of low-income students in public schools. Here, I supplement that report with my own calculations from the American Community Survey. The 2000-2013 ACS data shows that the rise in poverty among K-12 students is a general economic phenomenon affecting private and public school students alike. In fact, the private school poverty rate rose faster over this period than the public school poverty rate."

"The percentage of low-income students in U.S. public schools now make up the majority, according to the latest data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics. A report prepared by the Southern Education Foundation found that Southern states made up 12 of the 14 states with the highest rates of low-income students."

"That challenge inspired Jones to create Yes We Code, an initiative of his Rebuild the Dream organization that aims to teach 100,000 low-income kids to write code. Prince promoted the initiative in July by headlining the Essence Festival in New Orleans where Yes We Code held its first hackathon."

" But there is one that is proven, paid for, and possible for every child in this country and that is school breakfast. It's a federal entitlement for low income kids yet barely half of them receive it. It is exempt from sequestration's automatic budget cuts and enjoys a long track record of bipartisan support. A change as simple as moving breakfast from the cafeteria before school begins, to the classroom or "after the bell" enables us to reach many more children."

"Across the nation, 51% of public school children are low income students. In some parts of the South, that number exceeds 60%. The figures, based on location, appear like other signs of the effects of poverty. According to a new study from Southern Education Foundation: In 40 of the 50 states, low income students comprised no less than 40 percent of all public schoolchildren. In 21 states, children eligible for free or reduced-price lunches were a majority of the students in 2013."

"Increased economic opportunity resulting in less poverty is within reach thanks to a statewide mentoring program helping low-income students stay in college. The Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) is providing mentors to 21st Century Scholars, low-income students who receive state funding for post-secondary education. Despite this significant financial assistance, only 33 percent of scholars earn an associate's degree within three years or a bachelor's degree within six years. The state average for all full-time students is 42 percent."

"Just over half of all students attending public schools in the United States are now eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, according to a new analysis of federal data. In a report released Friday by the Southern Education Foundation, researchers found that 51 percent of children in public schools qualified for the lunches in 2013, which means that most of them come from low-income families. By comparison, 38 percent of public school students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches in 2000."

"The majority of students in U.S. public schools are low-income for the first time in at least five decades, according to a new report by the Southern Education Foundation. The report measured poverty among students by the number of those that qualified for free and reduced lunch. Nationwide, 51 percent of students met that measure for the 2012-2013 school year."

"Washington University in St. Louis plans to double its share of students eligible for Pell Grants by 2020, a university spokeswoman wrote in an email to The Chronicle. The private college says it will spend roughly $25-million per year to double its percentage of Pell-eligible students, from 6 percent to 13 percent. The college has been criticized for years for its lack of socioeconomic diversity. Most recently, The New York Times's Upshot column highlighted that lack in a list of the nation's most-accessible elite colleges."